Way late review: Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians

Some like to defend their behavior based on (for lack of a better term) the Robin Hood principle, which is taking from the rich and giving to the poor. It is not uncommon to hear this defense when someone is caught in an illegal activity but the person is known to contribute to their community. Enter Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians minus the illegal shenanigans. None of the blackjack playing Christians come out and say they are modern day Robin Hoods but they also don’t hesitate to express their disdain for the casinos, all while thriving in those very same villainous caverns for their bustling business.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the rationale behind the team of Christians performing their own modified version of Bringing Down The House (or 21 in movie form), the success of the documentary rests on telling a good story with compelling characters. The main narrative is relatively straight forward and well told. A couple of guys learn how to count cards, learn there is money to be had at the blackjack tables, and eventually expand on that revelation by finding investors on the one side and players on the other. Before you know it, there is over a million dollars flowing into the hands of a team of card counting Christians. The method to the madness is all based on math. The theory is you put the odds in your favor by keeping the count on the cards. Every card represents either -1, 0, or 1. The higher the count, the better chances there are that you’re going to beat the house. It’s more complex than that when it comes to placing bets, etc. but the theory is so strong that casinos disallow it. Counting cards is not illegal but the casinos will see you out the door if they think you’re turning the odds in your favor.

The characters making up the team are not so interesting. The team managers come off as smarmy if not outright dull. The players spend most of their time justifying their actions and don’t offer much more than that throughout most of the doc. The only other person who shares much screen time is a game room manager of a casino. He explains the casino’s point of view. There is so much time spent on Christians feeling guilty, or at the very least on the defensive, they explain away their time at the casinos. Little to no time is given to those who oppose their business venture. It’s as if the players are swinging at windmills. Of course there is plenty of real opposition to what this team of statistically driven blackjack playing Christians is up to, but almost none of it is represented on the screen. We’re left with rather mundane personalities running a less than mundane operation.

The guilty consciences never seem to wrestle with the all too real dilemmas their card counting gets them in. Casinos kick them out. They keep coming back. Casinos kick them out even quicker. They come back in disguises. Casinos kick them out some more. They take on fake identities. The cycle continues. There is a lot of talk about accountability within the group and how they couldn’t do this if they all weren’t believers in Jesus Christ. However, no one seems to flinch when they have no choice but to either give up the gig or use deceitful means to continue. There is no choice for most, at least that is how it is portrayed. You do what you have to do. After all, they’re taking down the big bad casinos. Granted, it’s a business, with investors expecting a rather high return on investment (35%). Robin Hood may have messed up when he spread the wealth around. He should have gotten some investors and paid dividends. Eventually the money would get back to those in need.

Possibly the worst moment, which should make every Christian cringe when they see it, is when the team goes on a long losing streak and suspicion of theft within the team heightens. The team has allowed at least one non-Christian to join. The team starts losing and guess where the blame goes? Yep, the man in black. Literally. The non-Christian is shown in a long sleeve black shirt when the accusations are made on camera. The suspicion comes from one particular team member who says God spoke to him and told him the non-Christian was stealing. Bam! Goodbye bad guy. Was he stealing? We don’t know and there is really no way of knowing. Every player is given large sums of cash to bet at the blackjack tables. They track their wins and losses. Who’s to say a loss was to the dealer or the player’s wallet? There is no way to know. And the director doesn’t help shed further light on the mystery. He instead follows a team member who begins questioning his participation on the team. After that we’re left with the team managers hitting the casinos in order to break the losing streak.

Holy Rollers is a generally well paced documentary with a solid soundtrack. Unfortunately there aren’t enough interesting subjects and the opportunities to counter the defensive stances from the team are never taken. The story is well told though it doesn’t need more than an hour to tell it. For non-Christians, the film will likely only further suspicions of those who hold to the Christian faith. And for Christians, there are likely to be many conversations and looks of befuddlement as they try to work out exactly what the purpose of the doc was.

[xrr rating=3/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3s4o6gAQRk[/youtube]

Way late review: The Elephant in the Living Room

Everyone probably remembers their first pet. That first little komodo dragon, lion cub, spider monkey, puff adder. No? Me either, but there are far more people in the United States who know first hand what it is to own an exotic animal than should. In many states it is not illegal and in some regulations are near zero. The Elephant in the Living Room tackles this fascinating topic, educating on the problem while delving into the complicated issues that arise when people make pets out of wild animals.

Filmmaker, Michael Webber, takes us through the labyrinth that is exotic animals as pets. Our tour guide for most of the film is the confident yet understanding police officer, Tim Harrison. In southern Ohio, Harrison handles endless cases of wild animals turned pets going back to their roots. Owners who lose control of their dangerous friends or simply turn them loose after they realize what was once a cool little jungle cat, alligator, or other wild animal is no longer so cool when it can eat you and your family. There are reports of lions, cougars, bears, and more on the road terrorizing people in their cars. People call about non-indigenous venomous snakes slithering into their garages. One call is from a father who reports that his children have been playing with some sort of python. Harrison comes to the house and finds not a python but one of the most dangerous snakes in the world.

There are no shortage of amazing stories of fatal attacks, near fatal attacks, and close encounters with animals that should be anywhere but in residential neighborhoods. Harrison educates on the problem by browsing one of the popular publications that advertises exotic animals for sale. There he reads endless ads for all sorts of creatures, many of which are listed as free to a good home. The worst kept secret in this dangerous market is that large, dangerous animals can be had for nothing. While some may pay five hundred dollars or more for their pure bred puppy of choice, a lion is free of charge. Harrison and Webber show the insanity of these markets up close by sneaking in cameras to two large shows. One is a reptile show with endless tables packed with reptiles from all over the world, most venomous and in plastic containers you’d expect to purchase food in. The other show is in Amish country, where every type of large cat, primate, and other furry critters are sold to the highest bidder as if they were bidding on livestock. These are legal markets, yet both the sellers and buyers feel the need to keep the cameras away. Speaking of buyers, many of them at the reptile show were children. Mom and dad purchased Johnny an eight foot python that will easily grow to be twice that size or a baby alligator that will one day grow larger than any member of the family.

Once the problem of exotic pets is hammered home from numerous directions, Webber focuses on the story of Terry Brumfield, a man who got in a car accident and whose back and neck are severely damaged. Brumfield struggles with depression. His cure was procuring two lion cubs. The cubs, one male and one female, grow up and Terry finds himself very much attached to the big cats while also struggling to contain them. The male lion escapes one day and terrorizes motorists on the highway. Brumfield is threatened by the law but somehow keeps his lions. Harrison tries to help Brumfield, who feels as though he’s in a no win situation. He doesn’t want to the give the lions up but he doesn’t want them to get out and hurt people. In a surprising turn, Harrison and Brumfield develop a friendship. It is there that we see these two men sharing both a love for animals and conflicted consciences. Harrison knows these lions need to be in a sanctuary where they can run and not be in danger of harming themselves or others. Brumfield has raised the lions since they were cubs. They are his lifeline. Losing the lions means losing life to Brumfield. Their story develops and takes some twists along the way that are fascinating and heartbreaking.

What could have been not much more than an issue documentary turns into a rather sophisticated look at two men involved in the thick of the topic. The human story is what ends up driving the film home and puts it over the top of an already solid educational look at the problem of exotic animals as pets problem in the US.

[xrr rating=5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGXLsvZHouA[/youtube]

Way late review: We Need to Talk About Kevin

If the primary goal of We Need to Talk About Kevin was to incite the audience to want to cheer when a child is thrown across the room by his mom, then mission accomplished. Never before have I seen such an unlikable character on the screen as that of the title character Kevin. Whether it be the young toddler or the teenage version, both are intolerable. I suppose that’s the point but it wasn’t one that made a great impression on me.

Eva (Tilda Swinton) and Franklin (John C. Reilly) fall in love, get married, and have a child. I think it’s a child, though one could make a strong argument that it’s a demon in a skin suit. Eva is unsure of motherhood. As a result of her trepidation she fears she may have forever ruined her relationship with her son, Kevin. Turns out some kids are plain evil, at least that’s the lesson I walked away with after watching We Need to Talk About Kevin. Great lesson, huh?

The images on the screen are often unsettling. The story is told in a time shifted manner, rapidly switching between the past and present, which adds to a disorienting feel throughout the first act. In sharp contrast is a soundtrack that plays sometimes saccharine songs against scenes of Eva living her miserable life where people recognize her in town and seem to have one of two reactions: they give her dirty looks or they try to terrorize her with punches to the face, splashing her house and car with red paint, or smashing all the eggs in her cart at the market.

As strange as the reaction from the town’s people are to Eva, the behavior of her son Kevin is even more so. As a baby he his colicky; so much so that Eva takes refuge by walking him in the stroller near a jackhammer. The sounds of breaking pavement are soothing in comparison to her son’s non-stop cries. As a toddler Kevin refuses to listen to his mom. He destroys the home in every way imaginable. While he is the devil incarnate with mom, Kevin becomes the best kid ever around dad, which it becomes apparent is only to upset mom all the more.

The shocking ending is not much of a shock considering the sheer evil Kevin displays throughout much of the movie. Tilda Swinton puts on a stellar performance as a mom rattled by the reality that she has given birth to Satan’s little helper and the negative impact he has on her from day one. Her conflicted responses to her son’s actions would be compelling if Kevin wasn’t so detestable. The ending was less surprise and more relief that there was no more time to spend with our anti-hero.

[xrr rating=2/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLRgAe2jLaw[/youtube]

Way late review: Haywire

Steven Soderbergh could have made the female Bourne movie. I’m afraid Joe Wright beat him to that with 2011’s Hanna. Granted, Hanna was an adolescent girl set in a bizarre modern day fairy tale. Haywire replaces the girl with a woman MMA fighter and trades the fairy tale for mostly mundane exposition.

Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is on the run. It’s not clear what for exactly in the opening moments of the film but we learn quickly that someone is not happy with her being out and about. There is something different about Mallory. Within minutes she is bashing in the head of Channing Tatum as she makes a run for it out of the rural diner. She forces a young man to get in his car and give her the keys. And away they go.

During the car ride Mallory explains her predicament. She’s a special agent for a private company that does work for various government agencies. It’s not the cleanest line of work and the reward for a job well done is being setup by her boss Kenneth (Ewan McGregor). Mallory escapes the trap with casualties trailing behind her. From that point forward the hunt is on for Mallory Kane.

What should be an action packed movie is mostly a lot of slowly paced scenes with plenty of dialogue to fill the gaps. A star studded cast fills the movie but is put to little use. Everyone seems subdued. And while some may blame Gina Carano for bringing the level of acting down several notches, she is not the problem. The entire cast is incapable of breaking free of the malaise that plagues them. Carano may be a bit of a gimmick, but no one can blame her for the lulls in the pacing, the generally out of place soundtrack, the dialogue heavy screenplay, and the ugly look of the film. Soderbergh’s style normally agrees with me. His penchant for using odd coloring is normally OK, but Haywire is flat out ugly. The colors distort an already flat looking picture. Rather than artistic, the look feels sloppy at best.

When there is action, it’s quite good. The fighting is not cut up with quick edits and annoying close ups that obscure the action. Fights are given the room to breathe, which is a rarity these days where special effects and hyperactive editing make a mess of far too many action sequences. Those scenes are entertaining and leave one wondering why there are five minutes of action followed up by three times as much filler. If only Soderbergh took his sense of fun and style with Ocean’s Eleven and mixed it with the energy of the fight scenes. Oh well.

[xrr rating=2.5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFV0Uvzpz0o[/youtube]

Way late review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone like Jeff (Jason Segel). A thirty years old, smoking pot, living in his mom’s basement, waiting for his destiny to come to him and magically control his life. I also didn’t expect to like Jeff, Who Lives at Home as much as I did.

Jeff finds great significance in the movie Signs. The M. Night Shyamalan film has deep meaning for the man who seems to have little purpose in life other than to mooch off mom and get high. He’s fascinated that the little girl in the film has a hard time drinking water and leaves full glasses all over the house. He marvels at how those very same glasses of water play a major role in saving the girl and her family’s lives. Jeff desperately wants to find his glasses of water in life.

Pat (Ed Helms), Jeff’s older brother, is not living at home. He’s married and in place of passively seeking his destiny he tries to make it happen in the form of purchasing a brand new Porsche Boxster against the consent of his wife, Linda (Judy Greer). While Linda has been saving for a home, Pat has been dreaming of living a life he can’t afford.

Jeff and Pat’s mom (Susan Sarandon) is a widow. She makes it clear to Jeff that she’d like for him to take even the simplest steps in becoming a productive member of society. For her birthday she sternly asks Jeff to get wood glue to fix a shudder in the house. She realizes this is not asking a lot, yet it is. She knows her son.

If there are any missteps it’s likely with the mom’s story line. She plays an important role, as she struggles with being alone, being a widow. The sadness and bitterness towards her own life carries over in her sons’ lives. All of them miss the same man who they all clearly loved very much. However, mom’s actions towards the end seemed forced to move the plot forward, as we never get to know her well enough to believe the path she chooses.

The passive pursuit of discovering his destiny leads Jeff off his mission to purchase wood glue and on a journey that leads to no shortage of comedic situations. Along the way, Jeff and Pat cross paths, where we discover the brothers do not like one another. No matter, Pat has more pressing concerns when his attempt to show off the power of the Porsche to Jeff backfires and, in a strange way, leads the brothers to find Pat’s wife potentially cheating on him. The pursuit for the truth has the brothers in a smashed up Boxster swerving through traffic trying to tail Linda and her mysterious male companion. Jeff plays the part of the Flinstone’s Dino, as he pops his head out of the sunroof so he can act as the human Google Maps. The comedic chase and awkward, yet funny, detective work by Jeff and Pat goes on until it meets a rather predictable conclusion. Yet that’s not the end. The small comedy turns into something more.

I was at first convinced Jeff, Who Lives at Home was going to be another vulgar and cynical comedy; one that treats its characters with disdain by putting them through painfully awkward situations, only to watch them dangle in despair until the bitter end where there is a weak attempt at redemption. And while it is vulgar at times, there is a genuine care for these characters, all of whom are easy to make rash judgments about. The story is more than just a setup for laughs, though there are plenty of those. Jeff’s obsession with his destiny may not jive with reality but it makes for a surprisingly compelling story with an emotional payoff.

[xrr rating=4.5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrDf6Ih8kHw[/youtube]

Way late review: Indie Game: The Movie

30+ years ago the tech startup out of a garage was made legendary thanks to two Steves – Jobs and Wozniak. Today’s version may be best summed up in indie video game developers. And while there is much to romanticize about the “two guys in a garage” mythology, Indie Game: The Movie does its fair share to pull back the curtain and reveal the sometimes mind wrecking journey such a creative venture can be.

There are two games in the making. One is Fez, whose development is led by Phil Fish. The other is Super Meat Boy, developed by the duo, Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The discussion about what an indie game is and the short history behind it provides context for those unaware. Within that, the developers provide their thoughts on what drew them into indie games, juxtaposing the massive studio efforts with those of the two men teams we observe. There is a naivety expressed about the pureness of indie game development; as if big budget game developers only want to make money while their indie counterparts eschew money for the sake of their art. The truth probably lies somewhere in-between those extremes.

The creation of software, even one as visual as video games, is not incredibly exciting. The mundane makes up 99.99% of the work. Some might argue I was a bit conservative with that percentage. Credit goes to the filmmakers, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, for making the process come alive on the screen. Particularly interesting was watching how Fish meticulously designs every pixel of his art until it’s just right. McMillen provides a quick overview on basic video game design, with some relevant drawings and animations thrown in to make the topic come to life.

In between getting to know the developers and being flies on a wall as they press forward with their games, there are interesting takes on the process, industry, and much more from Jonathan Blow, creator of one of the first big indie hits, Braid. Blow provides a presence of “been there, done that” and puts into perspective some of the raw emotions we see on screen from the other guys as they slave away to deliver the goods. Blow’s calm, cool mannerisms on the screen are in sharp contrast to the near nervous breakdowns we see from Fish, McMillen and Refenes. In these moments of emotional exhaustion and panic the romantic picture of two guys triumphantly changing the world with their tech creation is exposed for what it is – myth.

In order to put into a fuller perspective indie game development, it would have been nice if there was at least one representative of those who’ve tried to make a go of it but didn’t succeed, or at least failed to meet expectations. Jonathan Blow provides great insight, but he cannot speak as one who took his shot going out on his own and failed. That is not to say that Indie Game romanticizes its topic as a result. But providing a look at failure and the insights learned from those who’ve failed would help put into better perspective what the creators of Fez and Super Meat Boy face.

Since the film captures development of the games in the process of being made, the suspense is hard to miss. Whether the stakes are as high as these guys think they are, the very real possibility of being crushed by legal action or a broken promise from a large corporation feels threatening as the story unfolds. The frazzled looks and the near breakdowns on screen only increase the tension. And while it may seem laughable when put in perspective, the confession by Fish that he’ll kill himself if he doesn’t finish Fez is completely believable after hearing how his personal life during the process is crumbling around him and he’s poured everything he has into the project.

The happy ending is not quite so happy. One story is left incomplete, simply because a documentary needs to decide at some point where its story ends. The sense of accomplishment in the other story, both by sales numbers and reaction from players, is countered with the inevitable let down from reaching the goal of an incredible journey never quite living up to the ever inflating expectations.

A beautifully shot film with a near perfect soundtrack, Indie Game: The Movie is a tribute to its subjects. The end result is a well told story that embraces the insanity of the creative process and captures the magic that comes about as a result of that endless tension that nearly breaks the games’ creators.

[xrr rating=4.5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhaT78i1x2M[/youtube]

Way late review: Courage Under Fire

Hollywood should thank George Bush for the war in Iraq. I think the wars there alone have provided no shortage of feature length films and documentaries – some them are even above average. Burn. The temptation is too great for most to politicize the war, no matter their political leanings. Instead of telling good stories we get messages blasted at us, most often times painfully simplistic messages that only serve the purpose to rally one side of the political aisle. Thankfully, Courage Under Fire does not fall into the trap.

Lt. Col. Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is in charge of an investigation to confirm Capt. Karen Walden’s (Meg Ryan) worthiness of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Serling is no stranger to these investigations, nor the medals. He was in Iraq leading a brigade of tanks which resulted in friendly fire that killed one of Serling’s close friends. The Army helped Serling see the truth in the matter and the potential problem disappeared. Except it didn’t disappear for Serling or the parents of the man who was killed. Serling couldn’t clear his conscience and the parents wanted straight answers about their son’s death.

The investigation seems rather clear cut at first. Serling interviews the men who were saved by Walden. They vouch for her heroics in saving their lives by valiantly fighting to the bitter end after Walden’s medic chopper went down and her crew was left between enemy forces and the troops who were saved. Not satisfied with rubber stamping his approval, Serling interviews each of the remaining members from Walden’s chopper. Whether its his own guilty conscience causing him to press harder for a full picture of the events that took place, or something else entirely, the Lt. Col. is on a mission to know the truth.

In between chasing down interviews, Serling displays signs of the effects his own wartime efforts have had on him. He hits the alcohol with abandon any chance he gets. His relationship with his wife and kids is nearly non-existent. When he is home he is only there physically. Nevertheless, Serling soldiers on with the investigation, deterring health, family life and all.

The investigation leads Serling down some strange paths. He meets two members of Walden’s crew from that fateful event and something doesn’t add up. Ilario (Matt Damon) and Monfriez (Lou Diamon Phillips) give signs that one or both of them is not telling the truth. Serling digs deeper and, at the same time, drinks heavier. To make matters worse, a news reporter is hounding the Lt. Col. for the truth about the events that haunt the man who can barely walk home after drinking at whatever bar is near by.

The storytelling is strong overall, with an engaging mystery carrying the plot forward. The re-enactments of the events in question make for a good mystery. Though, if anyone gets an award for worst southern accent of all time, it goes to Meg Ryan. Her fake southern drawl only gets worse when she yells orders at her troops or gets highly emotional. Terrible performance. Good thing everyone else rises to the occasion and gives solid performances all the way around.

The ending is a bit too nicely wrapped up for my tastes. The movie has a fairly dark tone throughout but the filmmakers must have sensed the mood needs to drastically make an uptick right at the end less people leave on a down note. At least they didn’t sense the need to hammer home points about the war, which would have ruined a very good film.

[xrr rating=4/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZQE49MjyYQ[/youtube]

Way late review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

If ever there was a film where I felt like I should have had a hard time staying awake, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be it. A “slow burn” if ever there was one. Scratch that. It’s a slow burn hitching a ride on a tortoise.

The Cold War is on and there is a spy within the ranks of MI-6. Former agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought back, years after being fired, to head up the investigation. His detective work leads him through all the potential suspects. He digs into every aspect of their whereabouts during a botched Hungarian operation. Smiley is looked upon with much suspicion since his sudden return leads many to doubt his allegiances.

Even though it is one of the quieter spy movies, Tinker has an appeal in the way some of the best documentaries do. We get to observe people doing their jobs. We get to observe them skillfully go about their business. Of course, the characters and plot here are all fiction, but the appeal of the performances and the realism of the setting make for an oddly engaging film.

The plot is not all that inventive. Spies who work both sides are nothing unusual, at least not in fiction. There are interesting sub-plots though; small stories within the larger investigation that are more thrilling than Smiley cracking the case.

Staying awake during a film is not a ringing endorsement. Yet Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is one of those films that tests your patience with its deliberate pace and, at the same time, wins you over with great performances and attention to details normally left out of the modern day spy genre.

[xrr rating=3.5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZYXiHUdCXQ[/youtube]

Way late review: Melancholia

Driving home a point in storytelling is tricky. For instance, you can go the route of a film like Fireproof which makes no attempt at subtlety. The message is front and center, with the story taking a backseat. And while Lars von Trier’s Melancholia does not preach, it also makes no attempt to hide its core purpose of showing the despair one can feel at the greatest depths of depression and anxiety. The title alone wears its heart on its sleeve.

A previously unknown planet, Melancholia, is on a collision course with Earth. Life goes on for sisters Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). After a Tree of Life like, operatic montage, we’re thrown into Justine and her new husband, Michael (Alexander SkarsgĂ„rd), trying to make it up a long winding road to Claire and her husband John’s (Kiefer Sutherland) mansion on an 18-hole golf course. They are running late for their own wedding reception and the stretch limo isn’t helping matters. From there the first half of the movie is reminiscent of Rachel Getting Married, complete with an impromptu embarrassing speech given by a close family member.

At first it appears that Justine is in post-wedding bliss. She and Michael exchange adoring smiles at one another as they laugh about their predicament of not being able to make it up the road to their own wedding reception. As the reception begins and family dynamics start to play out, it becomes clear Justine is not quite right. She is withdrawn. Her husband tries to comfort her but it’s no use. Her sister confronts her and asks Justine to not ruin a beautiful celebration. The night wears on and Justine withdraws from everyone in ways that lead to odd, selfish behavior which has long term consequences. All the while, those surrounding Justine seem to want her to simply move on, to be happy and live life to its fullest, ignoring the direness Justine feels and her actions begin to display.

Some time passes and Justine returns to Claire and John’s place. She is a zombie. She sleeps all the time and is barely coherent. Her depression is on full display. No more empty smiles and attempts at laughter. Claire does her best to tend to her sister while she herself obsesses over the possibility that Melancholia is going to smash into Earth. John, who is fascinated by astronomy, assures his wife that scientists believe the two planets will not collide and life as they know it will continue. Despite the assurances, Claire is anxious. She has a sister lost in the depths of depression and can’t escape the thought that the end of the world is only days away. She pours herself into helping Justine get better, encouraging her to ride horses, eat meals with the family; stay active. At the same time, Claire also purchases medicine for an apparent suicide. Justine seems unconcerned about the end of the world. She welcomes it. Claire fears it yet makes plans for ending life on her own terms.

The theme of depression and anxiety set to the impending doom of the planet Earth is interesting if not ultimately fatalistic. From opening with an apocalyptic montage to jumping into the relative mundaneness of a wedding reception, the contrasts are jarring. And while the opening and closing of the film are as cinematic as any, the bulk of the film is shot in more of a run-n-gun style, with the camera zooming in and out in ways that are unusual for most feature length films. Contrasts are everywhere and yet one consistency throughout the film is how Justine’s depression and Claire’s anxiety are handled by those around them. For the most part, they are treated as “this to shall pass” and not taken seriously. It’s as if friends and loved ones want to give pat answers so no one needs to get bogged down in the messiness that is the desperation and fear the two sisters feel.

Not a feel good film, Melancholia does succeed at conveying the entrapment felt by those who suffer from from depression and anxiety. The story never goes beyond a loose narrative, just enough to keep forward progression and allow the actors to lead the way all while a mysterious blue planet careens towards Earth. Subtle it is not.

[xrr rating=3.5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzD0U841LRM[/youtube]

Way late review: Kramer vs. Kramer

Dustin Hoffman is short. He’s really short. In Kramer vs. Kramer he has a six year old son and it looks as though his son will be hovering over dad within a year max. Too bad height doesn’t determine one’s acting chops. Otherwise I’d be a decent actor. Hoffman puts on one of his finest performances in the 1979 Oscar winner. He wins a little gold trophy as does his counterpart, Meryl Streep. Not bad, and all in a film where melodrama could easily trump the natural drama in which a barely there father becomes an only parent overnight thanks to his wife walking out on him and his son.

Ted (Dustin Hoffman) is making his way up the corporate ladder at an advertising firm. He’s landing and managing ever larger accounts. Meanwhile his wife, Joanna (Meryl Streep), and son, Billy (Justin Henry), hardly make it on the ad man’s radar. Joanna decides she’s had enough and abruptly walks out on her husband and child. Ted is convinced this is an irrational act committed in anger, she’ll be back in a matter of hours. She never shows and Ted begins to realize what life is like as a single parent.

The driver in the two first acts of the film are that of Ted and Billy getting to at first know one another on the level of a healthy father and son relationship, followed up by a growing bond between the two. In between the developing relationship between he and his son, Ted wrestles with balancing his work with his new found responsibilities. The daunting nature of the challenge is hard to miss. The breaking points are in the smallest of moments early on when Ted is still coming to grips with having to care for Billy without any help.

Unlike many modern day dramas, Kramer vs. Kramer uses very little music to signal the emotional cues. In place of a sweeping, sappy soundtrack is an incredible set of performances by Hoffman, Streep, and even Justin Henry as Billy. Most child actors in this type of film fall into the trap of being overly emotional in response to the situation or serving as comic relief, but Henry’s performance never does either. He is a child coping with the loss of his mom and adjusting to life with a father he hardly knows.

The courtroom drama that drives the last third of the film, and earns it its title, does tend to swing an emotional hammer in intense questioning between lawyers and the two parents. The scenes are believable and convey the outrage felt by this mother and father fighting over the custody of their child. The case seems sealed and shut from the viewer’s perspective, which makes the outcome a punch to the gut.

If you’re feeling down about your own parenting, want to watch two of the finest actors alive today give landmark performances, or simply want to feel taller, Kramer vs. Kramer is a can’t miss film.

[xrr rating=5/5 label=” “]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNLcfJ06y34[/youtube]